Harry Potter and the Department of Mysteries
by Keade
Summary: Book 1/4. After the downfall of Voldemort, Harry hoped for a simple life. But will he get it? Follow the trio as they enter the world of adult life, cope with the physical and mental aftermath of Voldemort's reign of terror and face a new enemy. Can the Wizarding world fight a Muggle terrorist? And does he want to expose them? First ever fanfic, be gentle!
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hope you guys enjoy. This is book one of four! My first ever attempt at writing so opinions are welcome, good or bad! Three chapters here for you. Please review if you have a spare few minutes, the feedback will be much appreciated!**_

_**I own nothing in this story but the plot.**_

_**Edit:I've just noticed some of the styling is broken, probably from uploading from my phone. Next time I'm at a computer I'll fix it! Sorry all.**_

_Prologue_

"_Expelliarmus_"

"_Avada_ _Kedavra_"

Harry felt a great feeling of relief as he saw the life leave Tom Riddle's eyes; replaced immediately by a sense of guilt. Dozens of people dead, hundreds injured, all in his name. Burying this emotion for now, he turned as the silence broke over the crowd and they rushed towards him.

Harry scanned the crowd, looking out for the pair of brown eyes he wanted to see most. He found her standing with Ron and Hermione, the only ones not rushing towards him. In their body language he could see the same relief he felt in himself. It was finally over. They could finally live their lives.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny spent the night in the Gryffindor dormitories that night, feeling far too exhausted to talk very much. On one side of the room Ron was helping Hermione into one of the four poster beds. Glancing towards the door he noticed Ginny standing awkwardly, as if unsure where she should be sleeping. Smiling in spite of himself, Harry moved over on his bed, and nodded for Ginny to join him, laughing as she almost jumped the whole room to be with him.

"No funny business, you pair," he heard Ron call from the other side of the room.

Harry snorted, turning his back to Ron and putting his arm around the love of his life, savouring the moment. This was the first time he could remember not having a lingering feeling of tension and worry floating around him. For the first time he felt content to just lie here and cuddle his girlfriend.

_Chapter 1 - Induction Day_

"Seriously now, will you pack that in? You're making me more nervous than I should be"

"Sorry"

Harry Potter was sat next to his best friend Ron Weasley, gradually getting more and more irritated as his friend bobbed his leg up and down.

"Just stop worrying, you'll do fine"

They were both sat outside an office at the Ministry of Magic, waiting for an interview about joining the training to be an Auror. Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister for Magic himself, had assured them that the interview was just a formality; that after their feats during the war against Voldemort, the only way they would not get taken on was if they misspelled their names.

A year had passed since Harry had defeated Voldemort. The professors had worked tirelessly reconstructing Hogwarts, with the assistance of various witches and wizards, so that by September first, Harry and his friends had all returned to complete their seventh year of schooling before joining the real world.

Harry had enjoyed his final year at Hogwarts immensely. Grinning to himself, he remembered how nice it was being able to read in the library without someone trying to kill him. He had enjoyed sneaking about the castle, playing Quidditch and even stressing about his exam results. Leaving with an amazing set of N.E.W.T's, he was now here at the Ministry, hoping to join the ranks of the Auror's and become one of the elites who defended the wizarding world from threats.

"Harry Potter?"

Harry glanced up to see Henry Friar, the new head Auror, motioning for him to enter the office. With a last grin at Ron, Harry got up and followed him in, wiping his sweaty hands before the inevitable hand shake.

Henry Friar was a tall and impressive character. Broad shouldered with large muscles and a crew cut, he gave off the impression of authority, but Harry could see a kind nature in his dark brown eyes.

"Henry Friar, head Auror, it's nice to finally meet you in person, Mr. Potter," he said, moving behind his desk and raising his hand to shake Harry's. "Please, have a seat. No need to look so nervous, Mr. Potter, this is more of an induction than an interview, someone probably should of said."

Harry visibly relaxed at this news, joining in with Henry's laugh. An induction? This should be interesting.

"Now, all I'm going to do today is run you through your training courses, and introduce you to your trainer for the next three years. My co-worker is doing the same for your friend, Mr. Weasley, right now," after shifting some papers around he looked directly at Harry. "The wizarding world will forever be in your debt, Harry, but I'm afraid favouritism won't be shown here. The next three years will be the toughest studying of your life."

"I understand, sir."

"Good. Ah ..." He stood up as the door opened and a woman came striding into the room. About a head shorter than Harry, she was fairly short and slender, with brown eyes and peroxide blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail. "Harry, this is your trainer, Alexandria Flint. Alex, meet Harry Potter."

"I think I've heard of you!" she said with a giggle, accepting his hand shake. "I look forward to starting your training."

"It's nice to meet you, Alexandria," said Harry.

"Please, Alex is fine," she said giving Harry a large smile.

"Well now that's out of the way, care to help me run him through the courses?" asked Henry.

"Sure thing, where do you want to start? The beginning?" asked Alex innocently. Harry laughed as Henry rolled his eyes at her, subconsciously moving to the edge of his seat to listen to the explanation of his courses.

"Right, first things first," started Henry. "I'd like to let you know that you are the first year of potential Auror's to take on the new training course. After the downfall of You-Know-Who, the Auror office decided we needed a more secret and intense training course for our staff. We felt the Death Eaters always had an advantage over us, using Dark Magic that the Ministry would never use on another human being. The Minister gave the green light for new divisions to be set up in the Department of Mysteries. So now, we have a new training course put in place for future Auror's. Alex?"

"This next year" Alex said, taking over from Henry, "will be split into four subjects: Advanced Duelling, Defensive and Offensive Magic, Working with Enchanted Gear and Work Placement. With the exception of enchanted gear, I'm sure you can figure out what's in the courses. Some time today I'll take you for a duel, see what I'm working with," she said with a mischievous grin.

"Sounds good," said Harry, feeling a little nervous.

"All that's left to do then, Mr. Potter, is show you around," said Henry. "There's some paperwork you need to get done for ministry files, but you can get that done in between courses. Unless you have any questions, I'll leave you in the hands of Alexandria to show you around and get started."

"No, no questions, sir," said Harry.

"This way then, Harry," said Alex frowning at the use of her full name and pointing back to the door. She stepped in front of the door, placed her hand onto a red circle next to it and said "Auror Offices." Once the circle had turned green she opened the door, not to the waiting area he had entered from, but to a large room filled with office cubicles.

Harry stopped short, taking in his surroundings. The far wall was taken up with floor to ceiling windows, enchanted to show a busy, Muggle London. Around the other walls was a set of private offices, for the higher ups, Harry assumed, although the doors were open and the offices appeared empty. The central floor space was made up of dividing walls you could see over if you stood up. Harry glanced inside the closest one as they started to walk through the pathways made up by the dividers, seeing a wizard pouring over a file. One wall was taken up with what seemed to be his family and a few medals, while the other was taken up by news paper clippings. Harry just glimpsed the name "Jordan ..." before he walked passed the cubicle.

"Here's yours," said Alex after they rounded a corner. They had entered a set of four empty cubicles with a section of the walls lowered inside so the occupants could communicate. "Your team will take up these cubicles. Originally Auror's worked as partners but they decided bigger teams would be better."

"How many will be in the team?" asked Harry.

"Four," replied Alex, "You'll all work and train under me for a while before you're left to fend for yourselves. You'll meet them all tomorrow. I have another induction to do today, and my partner is doing your friend Ron's."

"So I'll be working with Ron?" asked Harry, failing to control his excitement.

"Yes you will," laughed Alex, "There's also a girl your age, coming in straight from Hogwarts too, called Rebecca Riley. Do you know her?"

"Vaguely," said Harry, "she was in my year when I did my seventh year but, we never really spoke. A Ravenclaw, I think?".

"Yeah, I think so," said Alex, "There's a guy called John Cleric who's joining a few years late. The four of you will be working and training together."

"Right, I need to leave you for an hour to run an errand. Use the time for what you want. I'll be back!"

Alex waved to Harry as she entered her office and closed the door. Harry looked round his empty cubicle and smiled. His very own work space. Thinking back to the cubicle he looked in to, Harry waved his wand and his favourite photo of him and Ginny appeared. Resting it against the wall Harry dropped into his chair and grabbed a quill, deciding to use the time to make a start on the paper work.

As Harry filled in his name and date of birth, his mind started to drift to the sorts of things he was going to learn this year. He had to admit, Enchanted Gear sounded the most intriguing. The only thing he could think of in relation to it was the shield hats Fred and George had invented. But surely not, he thought to himself.

True to her word, Alex came out of her office an hour after she left. Harry had finished the paper work and placed it in his outbox with Henry's name on top.

"Sorry about that, Harry." said Alex as she sat on the desk opposite him. "There's a lot going on recently with Muggle's. Right, so, do you fancy a duel?"

Harry took the quick change of subject as a 'Don't ask'. "Sure." He said.

"Come with me then. We'll use the old training rooms for now, I'll take you to the department of mysteries later on" Alex said, standing up and moving to a door Harry assumed led to a corridor. What he didn't expect was the door to open on to a large, empty hall. "We don't use these any more" said Alex, her voice reverberating around the room, "but it seemed easier to come here first. All I'm doing is getting an idea of how much work you need. I want you to try disarm, stun or incapacitate me in anyway. Don't worry about the room, it will fix itself." Suddenly her tone became more serious, loosing its kind quality Harry hadn't noticed until it wasn't there. "Take out your wand, Potter, and ready yourself. Ready? Let's see what you can do."

Alex moved so fast Harry barely had time to pull out his wand and raise a shield as her first stunner came hurling towards him. She was heavily on the offence, throwing stunner after after stunner at him. Each time he only just managed to cast a shield charm before the next spell came. Needing an opening, Harry leapt backwards and turned, appearing behind Alex and firing a disarming charm at her. For a heart stopping second he thought he'd won, then she turned herself just before the spell made contact, appearing five feet from where she was and facing him with a smile.

"Not bad" she said before raising her wand again. Harry mirrored her stance, trying to read her next move. He saw it as a brief flicker in her eyes, glancing slightly over his shoulder. He turned just as she did, realizing too late that a jet of blue light had left her wand. As he raised his wand to cast a spell he felt a shove on his lower back and his wand flew from his hand just as Alex reappeared. He fumed silently as he noticed she'd appeared facing away from him.

"_Accio_" she called. She caught Harry's wand and threw it back to him. "Too stationary, Potter. Keep moving if your opponent is Apparating. They won't know where you are until they appear again and look. Try to make mental notes of my style, my tricks, every witch and wizard has them. Now, again. Ready yourself," said Alex.

This time Harry was ready. He fired a disarming charm at her before running to the left. She easily blocked it and sent a few stunners after him. Harry didn't even bother to block, instead he fired _Reducto_ curses to hit them in mid air. He felt exhausted, doubtful he could keep this up much longer. Digging deep for more energy, Harry started to advance towards her, pleased to see her shields falling apart under his spells and less spells being fired back at him. He fired several more _Reducto_ curses at the ground around her feet to keep her moving. He was onto it. He felt confident that she was weak on her defense so he pushed all the harder. All of a sudden she smiled at him, launched herself into the air backwards, starting to turn as her head became parallel with the ground before vanishing with the tell tale crack of Dissaparation. Harry had just enough time to look dumbfounded before she reappeared above him. Glancing up sharply, his wand still pointing where she was stood a second ago, he saw her wink at him from five feet above him before everything went black.

"_Enervate_"

Harry opened his eyes to see Alex staring down at him. "Not bad at all Harry." she said, her voice kind and soft again, "A little training and silly tricks like that won't work any more."

"I've never duelled like that before," panted Harry "that was intense."

"That's just the start of things to come," said Alex "Come on, lets get back. I'll show you around the new department of mysteries divisions we're linked with before I do the afternoon induction. You'll be spending a lot of time down there, and, there's a friendly face waiting for you."

"Who?" Asked Harry, getting to his feet and following Alex towards the exit. Glancing back he watched as the floor where his spells had landed repaired itself.

"You'll see." she said flashing him a grin. They stepped up to a door with a red circle next to it. "These are how the Auror's get around the ministry. Just in case we have an emergency here we can use these doors to get to any room here. This is also the only other way to get into the new areas in the Department of Mysteries. All you have to do is place your palm on the circle and speak where you want to go. You try. We want the Artefact Enchantment Division."

"All right." Said Harry placing his palm in the red circle. "Artefact Enchantment Division" He said clearly. The red turned to green and he pulled open the door to a bright white light.

Harry couldn't believe his eyes. It was like stepping into something out of a James Bond movie. They were in a large room with shining white walls. The ten witches and wizards working here were all wearing white lab coats and standing around white tables of varying sizes. Harry had to squint while his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. He looked around with interest at the different things people were working on.

"Here, I'll give you the tour!" Said Alex laughing and pulling him to the closest table. "No one can get down here but the researchers and the Auror's, top security, you'll see why. Here," Alex picked up a small blue crystal that floated slightly over the palm of her hand. She reminded Harry of a kid at Christmas. "Crystal Cores. Every Auror is issued one now. It's made from the core of the owners wand and won't work in anyone else's hands."

"What's it do?" asked Harry curiously.

"It's been developed to amplify magical signals. With training and meditation you can learn to feel magic flowing through your body. Say I wanted to cast a shield charm with the crystal," said Alex, rolling her left sleeve up and exposing a green crystal attached to a brace on her arm. "I can run a small portion of the magic I'd use to create a shield down my left arm and into the crystal, watch!"

Harry watched in amazement as Alex raised her left arm and produced a shield charm without the use of her wand. What impressed him more was when she lowered her arm and left the shield floating there, stepped around it and looked at him with that childish smile.

"Releasing a spell we call that. You'll learn it all soon. Come on, I've been dying to show you these." Said Alex pulling him to the next station. Here there was two wizards. One had a clipboard and a quill, the other was floating in mid air. Looking more closely Harry noticed that he was standing on small, round metal plates.

"Levitation Pads the researchers are calling them, but the Auror's have dubbed them Fliers. Here," said Alex. She grabbed a much smaller version of the pad and said '_Engorgio_' making it grow to the same size as the one the researcher was using. "We're going to be learning these together! Brand new! The idea was to make them quite literally round pieces of metal. The control of them comes from a mixture of controlling a released spell and will power."

Harry watched with wide eyes as the researcher took off around the room, circling around the other researchers, flying to the ceiling before diving back to the ground. Harry was so stunned all he could say was, "They look useful."

"Wow, Harry, understatement of the century?" said a new voice from behind him. Harry nearly fell in his haste to spin around. His eyes reached there widest point as he took in the brown eyes and big bushy brown hair of one of his best friends.

"Hermione!"

"Well spotted," said Hermione, chuckling, "nice to meet you, Mr. Potter"

Blushing, Harry tried to regain some of his composure. "You work here?" he asked.

"I'll leave you both too it," said Alex diving in to the conversation. "I need to get back upstairs for the afternoon induction. Harry, when you've finished here you're done for the day. First full day starts tomorrow morning, nine am in the cubicle to meet the team. It was nice meeting you today. Take care, Harry, Hermione." She waved and turned back forwards the exit.

"So you work here, then?" asked Harry again. "Does Ron know?"

"Yes and yes," said Hermione. "He knows I'm an unspeakable, he just cant tell anyone. Quite literally. The ministry started letting the families of unspeakable's know what they are but cast Tongue Tying jinxes on them to stop them repeating it."

"I've always been curious," said Harry. "What happens if an unspeakable tries to speak about what you do?"

Hermione laughed. "You can't," she said. "Have you ever tried to describe something but, no matter how hard you think, you just can't find the write words?" She waited for Harry to nod before continuing. "It's kind of like that, only worse. It's hard to explain," she said, smiling.

"Makes sense," said Harry trying not to laugh.

"Oh, shut up," laughed Hermione. "We'll be working pretty closely. Each team of Auror's is assigned a researcher to introduce new Ar-Tech to you, and I'll be yours."

"Ar-Tech?"

"Artefact-Technology," said Hermione. "It's what we came up with instead of trying to shorten Enchanted Artefacts into something that's not six syllables. The Auror's tend to come up with their own names for the stuff anyway. There's not much else to show you to be honest. Until we perfect things there's not much point looking at everything. Not everything makes it though safety checks. Are you at Mrs. Weasley's for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah, I do live there, 'Mione"

"Fine, fine. Mum and Dad are out tonight so I'm going to pop round. I get off at five so I'll see you later. There's an apparation point near where you came in," said Hermione.

"Ok cool. See you later, Hermione," he said before turning to leave.

He couldn't help but smile about his day. He hoped that tomorrow he would get his Crystal Core and start to learn how to use it. As Harry reached the place where the wards dropped. He turned back to wave goodbye to Hermione before turning on the spot and disappearing with a loud crack.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: There's a reference in this chapter to my favourite fanfic! I'm curious if anyone will spot it. Enjoy. R/R if you have time, thanks!**_

_Chapter 2. Questions and Answers._

_Hermione,_

_Way too curious to wait until tomorrow, fancy dinner at your place?_  
_Not sure if you can speak the unspeakable there but, let me know, loads of questions to ask. Ron wants to come too._

_Awaiting your reply._

_Harry._

Harry was sat with Ron in his room at the burrow. It had only been an hour since he had returned from the Ministry before his curiosity got the better of him. Both him and Ron were dying to know what was in store for them at the department of mysteries so they had decided to bug Hermione into some answers. He'd already told Ron about his day, so he decided to do a little digging himself.

"So, how did today go for you?" Harry asked.

"Great," replied Ron, evasively.

"Come on, what happened?"

"Seriously everything went fine ... I just got disarmed twice and stunned in my duels," said Ron going bright red.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't do any better," said Harry.

"Really?"

"Yeah. In the last duel she disapparated mid back flip and stunned me from over my head, didn't stand a chance," said Harry laughing.

"Sounds like mine," said Ron. "I swear they must practice apparating twenty times in a row. What was Alex like? She's our boss now right?"

"Yeah kinda," said Harry. "She seems nice enough. It's like she transforms when it comes to duelling though, it was kinda scary."

"Yeah, forget all that. Is she hot?" Asked Ron, grinning.

"Ron!" Harry cried. "Your sister is my girlfriend!"

"And?" said Ron amused at Harry's discomfort. "You can look, Harry. I'll only break your legs if you touch."

Harry laughed, " Prat. Yes, she's very hot," he said. "Come on we've got two hours to kill before Hermione finishes, what you wanna do?"

"Erm... chess?"

"Sounds as good a plan as any," said Harry.

They spent the next few hours willing the time to pass playing wizard chess. Ron was so distracted thinking about what Hermione might tell them that Harry actually managed to beat him once. Half way through their first game Ron's owl flew back in through the window with the reply from Hermione, kindly inviting them both for tea, and scolding them for inviting themselves. So at five pm they both stepped up to the fire place in Mrs. Weasley's living room, waved goodbye and called out Hermione's address.

After the usual gut wrenching spinning Harry emerged into Hermione's sitting room, followed closely by Ron. Knowing Hermione as he did, Harry had always expected her parents house to be old fashioned and full of the charm that came with old houses. Instead he found himself standing in modern sitting room very high up. One wall was completely made of windows while the other three where white with marble columns running up them in intervals. In the corner was a very large television accompanied by two book cases on either side.

"I'll be out in a minute!" he heard Hermione call. "Make yourselves at home!"

Harry glanced at Ron with raised eyebrows. Shrugging they both pulled out their wands to get the soot from the fire off before moving to the white leather corner sofa near the TV. Taking Hermione's word for it Ron threw himself down and put his feet up on the sofa.

"I can't believe her parents live here," said Ron in a hushed voice.

"Well, they don't," said Hermione, entering the room from behind them, carrying a bottle of wine and three glasses. Setting them down on the coffee table she swatted Ron's feet off and sat next to him.

"What does that mean?" asked Harry.

"It's err ... mine," said Hermione blushing. "My parents gave it me as a graduation present. They've just retired early and bought a small cottage in the country."

"Wow, Hermione. So they gave you an apartment? Gave?! I think I'm going to quit tomorrow and become a dentist," said Ron sounding far too serious.

"Ron, it takes years to become a dentist," said Hermione. "Anyway, I have a question of my own after we have eaten. Ginny will be joining us for drinks later," she frowned as a Harry and Ron exchanged a meaningful glance. "I told her to wait so we can discuss the Ar-Tech for a while. So what do you want to know first?"

All thoughts of Ginny left Harry's mind as he tried to think what to ask first. Both him and Ron spoke at the same time.

"When do we get a Crystal Core?"

"How soon will the fliers be ready?"

"What else are you working on?"

"How do you 'release' a spell? What ever that means."

"All right, all right, slow down guys," said Hermione, fighting off tears of laughter, "One at a time. Harry you first."

"Ok, can you tell us exactly what a crystal core is?" asked Harry.

"Crystal Cores were the first enchanted objects we perfected..." started Hermione.

"Wait, wait. How long have you worked there exactly? It's only August and you're saying a lot of 'we's'," interrupted Ron.

"Erm, since the start of our seventh year ..."

"What?! How?" cried Harry.

"They recruited me!" said Hermione, holding her hands up defensively. "Kingsley showed up one day and asked if I wanted to secure a job straight from Hogwarts. Apparently they were head hunting a team to work in the Department of Mysteries. He had a door installed, similar to the ones the Auror's use to get around, and I used it to travel to the Ministry. Ever since then I've been researching Artefact Enchantment, it's quite amazing actually. The things we can do."

"Is it just Ar-Tech you research?" asked Ron.

"Not at all." Said Hermione. "There's a few divisions down there. A team of people are researching and inventing new spells; Another is researching magic itself: how it works, where it comes from. No one knows all of it though. It only comes to the Auror's when its safe."

"So, Crystal Cores?" said Harry impatiently.

"Right," said Hermione, sounding a bit flustered. "Well, they were the first item we managed to enchant properly. Essentially it's like having a second wand, only they can't handle much in terms of offence, we can't figure out why. I doubt you'd be able to stun anyone with one. But in the opposite, you can make one hell of a shield, and you could produce enough power to knock a spell away from you."

Hermione waved her wand and three plates filled with steak, salad and onion rings appeared on the coffee table in front of them.

"Thanks," said Ron reaching in first to grab a plate.

"Yeah, thanks Hermione," said Harry. "Is it difficult to use a core?"

"Not really. You'll be surprised how easy it comes when you learn the technique. It'll be one of the first things you learn. And the Levitation Pads," said Hermione, before Ron could ask. "will be rolling out in a few days."

"Wicked," said Ron around a mouth full of food.

"Anything else you want to know?" Asked Hermione frowning at Ron.

"Yeah, there is," said Harry, "what exactly is releasing a spell?"

"Honestly... You'll learn all this tomorrow, I'm sure." Hermione said, sounding exasperated.

"But we want to know now," whined Ron.

"Fine!" laughed Hermione, "Will you two ever grow up?"

"Probably not," said Ron, smiling at Harry. He opened his mouth to comment again but Hermione cut him off.

"Releasing a spell," Hermione said, before Ron could carry on. "Is something you've always done. The new thing about it is controlling it. If you cast Stupefy, you release a spell. If you cast a levitation charm, you continue to feed magic in to it when you don't really need to. Once you learn to control the magical flow through your body, you can control when to release a spell. Watch," she cleared her throat and pointed her wand at the wine bottle. "Wingardium Leviosa" she said smartly.

Hermione kept her wand trained on the bottle as it rose to head height; then, she smiled and lowered her wand. Harry watched wide eyed as the bottle remained hovering.

"The idea of this was building in me for a while," said Hermione. "You know how the candles float in the great hall at Hogwarts? And how the wards just sit there doing there job? I don't know about you two but I never saw a wizard there keeping them up. So I thought, why can't the same theory apply to a simple shield charm? Or levitation spell? It's simple really."

"If you say so, Hermione. We can't all be geniuses" said Ron.

They continued to eat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Harry was trying to decide if using the Fliers would be as fun as his old Firebolt. He tried to picture himself flying around the hall he had duelled in when he remembered the Auror's don't use them any more.

"Where do the Auror's train now?" asked Harry, causing Ron to look up from his food.

Hermione smiled to her self. "Now that's a surprise I won't ruin for you."

Harry and Ron spent the next hour laughing with Hermione and trying to get more information from her. Harry felt a pang of guilt that Ginny wasn't there with them, she rarely was lately.

Once they had finished eating Hermione banished the empty plates and went to fetch more wine. Noticing a copy of The Quibbler sat on the table Harry started to flick through the pages. Stopping in the centre when he saw a name he recognised under the caption "_Muggle discovers magic!_" Frowning slightly Harry began to read.

_'We have an exclusive story today. Leaked information from the Ministry claims a Muggle named Jordan Dyer has discovered the world of magic! Although he can't see it, he has been spotted standing inside Hogsmeade and also in London staring at the Leaky Cauldron._

_"I've seen him, I have," says a local member of the Hogsmeade community. "Just standing there, he was. Was like he was looking through me and not at me, I knew somethin' was wrong"_

_When confronted by our reporters the Ministry denied the existence of such a Muggle, assuring us that the wizarding world is, indeed, safe and secret. But is it? Do we have a global revelation on our hands? Stick with us as we delve further into this secret.'_

"Have you seen this, Hermione?" asked Harry as she came back into the room. "I saw newspaper cuttings about a Jordan something today at work."

"The Muggle? Yeah I saw it. You are reading The Quibbler though, Harry, I'd just ignore it."

"I suppose. Weird though, if it is true," said Harry. "I wonder how he found Hogsmeade?" Even as he said it he heard how ridiculous it sounded.

"I think it would have been pretty big news if a Muggle was seen in Hogsmeade," said Ron.

Just then the fire lit up and Ginny appeared out of the fire place. Harry tried to catch her eye but she wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Hey," Harry said, as she sat down next to him. Sitting back, he put his arm around her. She flinched at his touch and shied away slightly, making Harry frown. "How was practice?"

Ginny had recently been taken on to the reserve squad for the Holyhead Harpies. "Rough," she said, "nine hours a day this week."

"Ouch," said Ron.

"Never mind ey, it's worth it," said Ginny accepting a glass from Hermione and downing it in one. "So Hermione, your letter said you wanted to ask us something?" she said holding her glass out for more wine. Hermione frowned at her before refilling it.

"Right, well, ok," Hermione said sounding a little nervous. "I had an idea that, maybe, you could all come and live here."

"All of us? Living in your apartment?" asked Ron.

"Well, yeah. It has two bedrooms. Both are en-suites. It's big enough and, the ministry has given me permission to expand it if I want to. What do you think?" asked Hermione looking around the room.

Harry glanced at Ginny. Maybe this is was the opportunity he needed to repair his deteriorating relationship.

"I'm in," said Harry. Hermione smiled and looked at Ron.

"I'm in, too," he said, and Ginny nodded.

"Excellent."

The two couples spent the rest of the night laughing and enjoying each others company. The tension seemed to have lifted slightly between him and Ginny, but it was still there. Eventually, Harry grew quiet and his mind started to wander to the Muggle, Jordan Dyer.

Harry was the first to stand up to leave making everyone frown at him. Claiming to need a good nights sleep Harry took the floo back to the Burrow. But sleep was the last thing on his mind. He couldn't shake the feelings he had about this. Just his name sent a shiver down Harry's spine. When he arrived at the Burrow he tiptoed out the back door and started to walk to the end of the wards. Silently going through the garden gate, Harry turned on the spot and, with a loud crack, dissaparated to a Muggle library in town.

Harry quietly walked up the steps, disarming the alarm with a wave of his wand. Next pointing his wand at the lock he muttered "_Alohomora_" before stepping inside and lighting his wand.

After a quick glance around Harry spotted the computers and quickly ran towards them. Taking a seat he booted it up and tapped his leg impatiently as it slowly loaded up. Once it had finally finished Harry double clicked the internet icon and typed 'Jordan Dyer' into the search bar. His eyes widened as the results showed up.

_'Man claims magic is real'_

'Scientist makes outrageous claim of magic being a factor in scientific equations'

Seeing a video link titled _'Jordan Dyer laughed off stage'_ dated nearly a year ago, Harry clicked it and watched as a thin man in glasses with dark messy hair and a pointy chin spoke about his eye witness accounts of magic. Harry's skin seemed to freeze as he heard the statement that caused the crowd and interviewer to laugh him off stage. What he heard didn't fill him with laughter. Quite the opposite. He felt a fear he thought he would never have to feel again. A fear he hadn't felt in over a year.

_"And how exactly did you find out about magic, Mr. Dyer?"_

"_A wizard told me. A wizard in a black hood and mask."_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Struggled a little with this chapter, thought it would be easy to write but it wasn't! But here you go! Chapter 4 is almost ready for upload, just waiting a few days before I go back and do a final edit. Please R/R if you have time, the feedback would be amazing, good or bad I'm not fussy!**_

_**Enjoy~**_

_Chapter 3 The Department of Mysteries_

Harry awoke early the next morning and lay in bed finalising his plan. He was going to head to work early to tell Alex what he had found out. Dyer's description of a Death Eater was accurate enough to worry him. He quietly climbed out of bed, grabbed his clothes and snuck to the bathroom for a wash.

Once he was dressed Harry climbed down the stairs towards the kitchen, deciding to grab some toast before he went. What he didn't expect was to hear a soft sob as he approached the door. Peeking inside he saw a tired looking Mrs. Weasley crying softly over a cup of coffee.

"Mrs. Weasley?"

She jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. "Oh... hello, Harry dear."

"What's the matter?" he asked, walking into the room and sitting opposite her.

"Nothing, Harry," she said, "Don't go worrying yourself. Why are you up so early?"

Harry frowned before responding, "Are you sure?" he asked. "I'm just heading in to work a little earlier today to talk to my boss."

"Ah, I see. Here," said Mrs. Weasley. She waved her wand and two pieces of bread started toasting. Once it was brown and crispy she moved it to Harry. "Take it with you, dear. Don't let me keep you."

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley. I'm here if you need me," said Harry.

"Don't be silly, dear. Have a good day."

Harry got up and left through the back door, thinking about how Mrs Weasley had acted. She definitely was upset about something, but he couldn't think what. Then it hit him. He was moving out, and taking her youngest children with her. She would only have Mr. Weasley in the house once they left. Harry stopped, looking back at the Burrow he tried to decide if he should go back and comfort the only real mother figure he had ever had. A movement caught his eye causing him to glance down. A grass snake was making its way passed him, and it reminded him of why he was up early in the first place. Death Eaters. Turning back towards the gate he decided he would talk to Mrs. Weasley after work. Once outside of the wards Harry turned and, with a loud crack, dissaparated to the Ministry.

It was with a great sense of deja vu that Harry looked upon the employee entrance to the Ministry. He smiled to himself remembering the last time he came here, disguised as someone else. Silently hoping he wouldn't have to flush himself again, Harry followed the other witches and wizards down the same steps he had once walked and through the doors.

Inside, thankfully, there were no toilets. Instead there was eight surprisingly normal looking doors. Looking closely Harry could see the person at the front of the cue speaking to the door. He watched as the wizard slid his wand into a slot, waited a few seconds, then opened the door and disappeared inside. Glancing around again he spotted a door with no cue in front of it. Walking over he saw a red hand sized circle next to it. Feeling oddly like he was going to get in trouble, he placed his hand in the circle and said "Auror Offices", smiling as the door clicked open.

As Harry stepped through the door and into the offices someone crashed into the side of him, sending him flying to the floor.

"Harry!"

Harry turned crimson with embarrassment when he realised it was Alex looking down at him.

"I'm so sorry, Harry," she said, holding a hand out to him. He took it gratefully and got to his feet. "There's never usually anyone here for at least another hour."

"It's ok," said Harry. "Are you always here at this time then?"

"Yeah, most days. Early bird and all that," said Alex with a sad smile. "What brings you here so early?"

"You, actually," said Harry.

"Oh? ..." said Alex her eyes widening slightly.

"Yeah I wanted to talk to you about a Muggle called Jordan Dyer," said Harry.

"Oh right," Said Alex her excitement seeming to deflate, "Want to come to my office?"

"Sure."

As Harry followed Alex around the edges of the office cubicles towards the door with her name on, Ron's voice from the day before swam into his head. Without meaning too Harry started to notice the way Alex's dark jeans clung to her behind and the way her hips swayed when she walked. Giving himself a mental slap he tried to focus. But Ron was right wasn't he? He could look...

"Make yourself at home," said Alex shocking Harry out of his thoughts.

Her office was spacious, clearly enlarged with magic. Too his right he saw a mahogany desk with matching units behind it and to his left, two comfortable sofas sat facing each other with a coffee table between them. Looking around Harry noticed a distinct lack of photos, although on the wall opposite was an award for the youngest employee to become a fully certified Auror.

"So, Jordan Dyer," she said sitting on one of the sofas. Harry sat down opposite her. "That name never leads to anything good. What do you know of him?"

"Not much, to be honest," said Harry, "But, I think the Death Eaters told him about magic."

"Death Eaters? But how? You had better start from the start," said Alex sounding a little panicked.

And so he ran Alex through everything that had happened. By the time he finished Alex was on the edge of her seat.

"This is bad news indeed," she said, standing. "This needs to go higher up. I'm going to head up and see Kingsley about it now, although I'll leave out the part about breaking into a Muggle building, shall I?"

"If you don't mind," said Harry joining in with her laughter.

"Good work though, Harry. Nice use of resources. We'll have to find a way to play that video here," said Alex.

"I'm honestly surprised you knew what I was talking about," said Harry. "That wasn't the response I'm used to when talking about Muggle technology."

"I'm Muggleborn," said Alex smiling. "I'll meet you at the cubicles in ten then. Was a nice surprise seeing you this morning."

"Yeah, I'm glad you were here," replied Harry.

"See you in a few."

She turned left out of her office door and walked towards one of the Auror travelling doors, leaving Harry to go the opposite direction towards his office cubicle. Turning into his block of four cubicles Harry was surprised to see it was already full. One cubicle was taken up by a man a few years older than Harry that he assumed must be John Cleric. He had a small box of possessions he was unpacking and arranging on his desk. Another was taken up by a girl no older than he was lounging in her chair. Catching sight of him she stood up and moved to the lower section of the cubicles, extending her hand to Harry.

"Rebecca Riley," she said, alerting the other occupants to Harry's presence. Only then did he notice Ron was here as well.

"John Cleric" said the other man standing up. "Last time I saw you, Harry Potter, was the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

"You were at Hogwarts when I was?" asked Harry.

"Yeah I was. Tended to keep myself to myself though."

Stepping back slightly Harry was able to take in their appearances. John was a foot taller than Harry, making him the tallest in their group. He had shoulder length mousey brown hair connected to unshaven stubble surrounding his face. Noticing Rebecca staring solely at John, Harry could only assume he must be good looking. With a muscle build along the same lines as Ron's, Harry was glad this man was on the good side.

Rebecca was equal in height to Harry. She wore dark make up and Harry could see black earrings hanging from her ears. With black hair hanging all across her face, it was difficult to see the pretty blue eyes and heart shaped face beneath.

"Nice to meet you both," said Harry, "Hi, Ron."

"Hey, did you come in early?"

"Yeah, needed to talk to Alex," said Harry.

"Speak of the devil,"

"Nice to see you've all met!" said Alex. "Shall we head down and get started? The awkward ice breakers can come later."

Everyone laughed and stood up. "What are we starting with?" asked Ron.

"Normally, Alex is fine. But when we are on shift I'm your supervisor and I expect respect. It will be 'Ma'am, understood?" said Alex barely keeping a straight face.

"Yes, sorry, ma'am," said Ron quickly going bright red. His ears went even redder when everyone burst out laughing. "What?" he asked defensively.

"It was a joke, Ron," said Alex laughing. "I have a nice shirt that colour," she added nodding to his face.

Harry shot Ron a grin then followed behind Alex. He was glad he could have a laugh at work; he'd had enough seriousness to last a life time. He silently hoped it wasn't always aimed at Ron though.

"Crystal Cores first," Alex said startling everyone out of their thoughts. They had arrived at an Auror door which Alex opened to the Artefact Division. They all followed her through to the left and walked up to a group of four people in lab coats who seemed to be waiting for them. Harry noticed Hermione when he got a bit closer. Harry shot her a smile before lining up with his team.

"Here they are then, Hermione," said Alex, jumping up to sit on one of the desks causing Hermione to frown. "All yours!"

"Thank you, Alex. Hello, everyone," Hermione said sounding nervous. "This won't take long, all we need to know is your wand core for the spell. Rebecca?"

"Dragon Scale"

"Interesting, we haven't made one with that before. Mr. Cleric?"

"Thestral Tail Hair."

"Ok. Ron? Do you still have Wormtail's wand?" asked Hermione. Oddly this caused Alex to flinch. Harry glanced at her curiously but she avoided his gaze. Harry made a mental note to ask her about it later.

"Nah, not any more," said Ron. "Bought a new one last week. Unicorn Hair again."

"All right. Harry? Nixon Feather?"

"What? Oh, yeah," he said returning to reality.

"You may as well go first then Harry. Step up here," said Hermione.

Hermione stepped to the side to reveal a machine about the size of a cereal box. It was made from a shiny metal with holes cut out in the shape of a wand, and the shape of a crystal. See-through tubes ran through the machine from each section.

"Put your wand in Harry," said Hermione, pulling out her own wand. Harry felt nervous as he stepped forward and her colleagues removed their wands. He placed it into the wand slot in the machine and stepped back. Hermione moved forward to place a clear crystal into the other slot and raised her wand.

"Together then. After 3. 1... 2... 3... _Enchancantatum_!"

Four thin beams of white light fired from each of the caster's wands directly into the centre of Harry's wand. The light slowly made its way to the tip and into the tubes. Squinting against the light Harry saw that the light in the tubes was a mixture of reds, oranges and yellows. Exactly the colours he remembered from Fawkes. The light edged closer and closer to the crystal and Harry found himself holding his breath in anticipation. As it made contact it started to emit a high pitched noise, growing in volume until he wanted to cover his ears. Then, with a blinding flash of light, the noise stopped and Hermione and the other researchers lowered their wands, leaving a crystal glowing with the colours of a phoenix.

"One down," said Hermione sounding a bit breathless. "Takes it out of you a bit," she added seeing Ron's concerned look.

"Are you all right?" asked Rebecca.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Hermione replied, "But, if you don't mind, we'll do your crystal last. The level of power involved depends on the core the crystal is being powered from. Dragon Scale is an extremely powerful and aggressive core, I'm uncertain how it will react. You guys feeling up to more?" she added to her colleagues. Once they had nodded she said, "Harry, yours will be fine to pick up now. Head to the other side of the room. There's a man waiting for you all to fit your wrist straps. John, you next?"

As John stepped forward, Harry grabbed his new crystal and started to make his way through the lab tables towards the area Hermione had pointed to. Harry raised the crystal to eye level as he walked, wanting to admire it up close. It really was a beautiful thing. The colours swirled around inside and he could feel the warmth emanating from it. Closing his fingers around it he felt a strange and somewhat familiar sensation start to travel up his arm. By the time he realised where he had felt this before it had engulfed his entire body. Phoenix song.

He stopped suddenly as the night Dumbledore died swam to the forefront of his mind. No, he thought to himself, not now. As the feeling from the crystal grew inside him, so did the grief Harry had spent the last year trying to bury. Against the advice of all his friends, Harry had ignored the grief as best he could, instead turning it to anger and blame at himself. He knew, deep down, this was just a way to prolong the inevitable. But accepting it meant they were gone. Harry closed his eyes and, using an empty table for support, did his best to force the feelings of guilt and grief to the dark place he had created within himself.

In his head he heard Fawkes sing. A beautiful and sad lament for Dumbledore, for Sirius: For Fred, Remus, Tonks and everyone else who had sacrificed themselves to end Voldemort, to keep Harry going. Their faces moved through Harry's mind as he started to loose himself. He had to regain control, or risk a breakdown in the middle of the Department of Mysteries.

"Harry?"

When he heard the voice it was as if someone had flicked an off switch inside his head. The phoenix song stopped. The faces of his dead friends disappeared. Harry managed to force the lid shut on his box of negative emotions and he looked up to see John looking at him with a curious expression on his face.

"You all right, mate?" asked John.

"Fine," replied Harry, taking a deep breath. "Late night."

"Ah, I see," said John winking at him as if he was now part of a joke.

They both started walking again and before long, arrived at a workbench where a wizard was preparing leather wrist straps. After a short measuring, both were sporting the straps with a brace attached to hold their Crystal Cores. Harry was just examining his when Rebecca and Ron walked over.

"Alex is just helping the researchers get somewhere to rest," Rebecca said sounding a little guilty. "Two of them feinted after they finished enchanting my crystal. They seem all right now though."

"You should have seen it Harry," said Ron. "I thought the thing was going to explode. Hermione wants to do research on it to see if she can do any decent offensive magic with it."

"Cool. Do you know where we're supposed to go next?" asked Harry.

"Alex said to just wait here," said Rebecca. "Let's see your crystals then!"

John was the first to hold his up. It hadn't really changed colour, but it had what seemed to be black smoke swirling inside. "Honestly, mine looks the coolest," said John looking smug.

"No chance," said Ron holding his up. It was a brilliant white. "Hermione is curious if _Lumos_ will work well through mine."

"Well, we all saw Harry's, so here's mine," said Rebecca holding up a green crystal with red tendrils moving through it. "Hermione thinks my core must of come from a Welsh Green."

"These are more than cool," said John admiring his. "Think I can cast a shield through it?"

"Not a chance, we haven't learnt how," said Rebecca.

"What ever. Watch me!"

They all jumped back as John raised his left arm and cried "_PROTEGO_".

Nothing happened.

"Impressive," said Rebecca sniggering. John shot her a dirty and raised his arm to try again but, just then Alex reappeared.

"All set then?" she asked, nodding to each of them. "All right, we're running a bit late so come with me," she said, leading them to another Auror door. This one had a regular sized red pad on the right of the door and twenty or so smaller ones running down the left. "Now, these are the new training grounds! It's a bit of a pain having to come through here all the time to use them but, it's worth it. I'll explain inside. All you have to do is place a finger inside one of the small pads on the left. I'll do the rest."

Alex placed her palm into the red pad on the right and waited for the others to all place a finger on the door before shutting her eyes. After a exactly a minute she opened her eyes, smiled at them and yanked the door open to the very last thing Harry was expecting.

They had stepped onto a grass clearing. That was surrounded by a lake. That was surrounded by mountains.

Harry was awestruck. Glancing behind him the door had vanished. The island they were standing on must be hundreds of miles away from London. He looked at his friends and saw exactly how he felt on their faces.

"Welcome," said Alex, clearly enjoying herself, "to Auror training grounds."

"Where are we?" asked Ron in a hushed voice.

"We're inside the Ministry!" said Alex. Seeing their stunned looks she laughed and said, "I'll explain. Hermione came up with the idea for these from something called the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts, if you've heard of it. The room designs itself to the need of the user, which, in it's basic form, is what's happening here. The only difference, and it's a pretty big difference, is these rooms don't adapt as you go on. If you want to change it you have to leave and come back in."

"This is incredible! These are just for the Auror's?" asked Rebecca.

"Yes, just for us."

"Can we make them into anything?" asked Harry, thinking of the Room of Requirement.

"Yes, we can, anything at all," said Alex "We're even going to start doing the practical exams down here. We can make an instance of anything we want. Even insert humans and replicated their behaviour."

"I'm impressed," said John, still looking around.

Alex smiled her biggest smile yet. She obviously loved everything about this. She blushed when she saw Harry watching her and pulled out her wand.

"Right, let's get some training done, she said, "No need for those just yet," she added as everyone pulled out their wands. "Harry will you help me?"

"Sure," said Harry stepping forward.

"Ok everyone, Crystal Cores," said Alex taking a deep breath. "Before we can even attempt to use them, you need to understand something. It only takes a second for you to learn this, every witch and wizard does it every day, we are just going to really feel what we're doing. We'll do a shield charm to start. Everyone, cast one for me"

They all raised their wands and silently cast shield charms. Alex nodded in satisfaction.

"Right, now break down that process into the tiniest steps. Each spell makes the flow of magic in your body react differently. Focus on what you do. Really try and feel the magic moving around your body. When you cast a spell, you feed magic into your wand and release it. We need to control that feeding. Try it. Practice starting to cast the spell, but don't actually cast it. Act as if in slow motion."

Harry tried to make sense of all this. He'd never felt magic flow through his body in the entire time he'd been casting magic. Why would it start now? Giving Alex the benefit of the doubt, Harry closed his eyes and tried to cast a shield charm in slow motion. What happened next shocked him so much he nearly dropped his wand. He felt something in his chest. Focusing on this feeling Harry carried on with the steps to cast the spell and tried to make sense of what was happening. It was neither hot nor cold, it didn't hurt, it wasn't uncomfortable but it certainly felt alien. He felt it travel out from his chest and into his right arm, all the way down to his hand causing his wand to start to vibrate slightly. Looking around at the others he saw confused expressions on all their faces. They must be feeling the same thing.

"It's amazing how fast people pick this up." said Alex watching them all.

"I can't believe it," said Harry, "How have we never felt this before?"

"Is this my magic I can feel?" asked Rebecca.

"Yes, it is," answered Alex. "The trick is making your body subconsciously move your magic to places other than your wand. Magic, like any other force in nature, will take the path of least resistance; your wands. What we have to do is force it to release through our cores instead. See if you can do it Harry. Feed that shield charm into the core. Ready?"

Harry's eyes widened. She didn't seriously expect him to be able to cast something so soon?

"Err..." said Harry.

"After 3! 3... 2... 1... _Expelliarmus_!"

Harry tried to feed his magic into the crystal, but the shield he cast came from his wand. Alex's spell bounced away and she frowned.

"Keep trying. Pair up, we'll leave here once we get a shield from everyone," said Alex.

Alex kept them at it for two hours. By the end of it each of them could cast a decent charm from their crystals. Panting with exhaustion but grinning from ear to ear, they all clapped each other on the back.

"Good job everyone," said Alex. "I'm honestly surprised. It took me a few days to even get a spark out of mine. Although we were working with no theory at the time. So, who wants to see what these crystals can really do? We'll duel. If you can beat me, I'll take you all out for drinks tonight. If I beat all four of you at once, then the night outs on you, deal?"

Harry glanced at the others. Four against one? Surely they could win. Alex wasn't that much more experienced than themselves, with the exception of the crystal core. Harry raised his eyebrows, and one at a time his friends nodded.

Smiling, Alex took her wand back out. Harry's face dropped as she summoned a shield from her crystal and kept it there. It looked like she was holding a transparent blue medieval shield attached to her wrist strap. Flexing her arm to show off the shield a little she shot them a cocky smile before raising her wand.

"Ready?" she asked, bowing slightly. "Let's do it!"

John gave the others a cocky look and rushed forward, firing off various jinxes and curses as fast as he could. Her Crystal Core shield shattered after five spells, but as soon as it died she raised another with her wand, using the time it lasted to create another from her core. After the first barrage of spells she'd found a rhythm. Blocking five times with her left arm, then once with her right. Eventually, John stopped and, panting, fell back in line with the others.

"If you figure out how many spells a medium strength shield can block against a particular target," said Alex, "You can find a rhythm like that. It saves you energy, and tends to waste theirs."

John looked furious that he hadn't even made Alex break a sweat. Harry assumed it had something to do with the small age gap between them. He probably have felt he should have been able to stand against her more than he did. Harry was a bit younger and even he had felt like that when he first duelled her. These Auror's were just a different breed of fighters to them. But he was determined. He wasn't sure what took over him but, he found himself speaking.

"We need to do it together," said Harry. "Spread out."

What shocked him even more was what had always shocked him in his fifth year. People following his orders. Even though John shot him a nasty look, he still moved to the right, so that all four of them formed a semi circle around Alex.

Harry took a stance with his wand raised, waited until the others had copied, then began his assault. All four of them started to fire spells at her. Harry noticed Alex's face screw up in concentration before she slammed a huge shield between herself and the others. She turned her head, aimed her wand behind her and fired a powerful Reducto curse at a mountain in the distance. Harry watched wide eyed as the rocks began to fall. She waved her wand at the rubble and fifty smaller rocks began to float and move towards her. He intensified his assault on her shield.

"Harry!" called Ron. Harry looked around to see Ron pointing to a cliff behind them. The height would give them the advantage, he just needed to keep her occupied.

"Rebecca, go with Ron, up there!" shouted Harry pointing to the cliff.

She nodded and they both turned and disappeared, appearing twenty feet above them with a good view at Alex. Harry had forgotten Ron's aptitude with strategy. With this positioning Alex should struggle to hold them all off.

Alex had taken a new stance behind her shield. Her wand arm was raised towards Harry and her left was held out behind her, apparently controlling the fifty floating rocks above her head.

Harry nodded to John and, with renewed determination, they fired at the shield at the same time, blowing it to pieces.

The next thirty seconds found there way into Harry's day dreams for months. Watching Alex was like something he had never seen before. Ron and Rebecca fired stunning and disarming spells from above while Harry and John attacked from the floor. It was like watching a Muggle fireworks display. Not one spell made contact. Alex used her wand to target spells fired by Harry and John with Reducto curses, her arm blurred with the speed she moved it. Harry could only assume her Crystal Core was doing the rest. Every spell fired from above exploded in mid air as Alex magically threw rocks into them. Each spell she didn't hit with a curse or a rock she blocked with a shield summoned by her core. It was magnificent to watch. She moved with grace and seemingly without effort.

Just as Harry thought he was about to run out of stamina, Alex quickly moved the rest of the rocks into a large wall in front of her. He heard a faint crack above the noise followed by an intense silence.

"Now that," said Alex from beside him making him jump, "was fun." She motioned to Ron and Rebecca on the cliff to join them. With a echoing crack they appeared next them. Everyone, including Alex, was slightly out of breath."Who's idea was it to put people on higher ground?" she asked.

"Mine," said Ron with a smug grin.

"Very good work, it made it a real challenge to block all of you"

"Alex, you were incredible," said Rebecca. "Will you teach us to fight like that?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Alex. "You'll be better than me I'm sure. Anyway, the point of all that, was just to show you what one person is capable of with Ar-Tech and a bit of creativity."

Ron snorted. "Creativity? You blew up a mountain and used it to block spells! Can you teach someone to think like that?"

"Well," laughed Alex, "next time you're duelling four people, and there's a mountain behind you, what are you going to do?"

"Fair point," said Ron chuckling.

"Drinks on us then!" said John. He still looked a little disappointed but, Harry was glad he seemed to be cheering up. "Tonight?" he asked.

Everyone nodded but Harry said, "Not tonight for me. I've got a date with my girlfriend."

John opened is mouth to snigger but Rebecca swatted him on the arm, "That's sweet" she said, "Come find us if you change your mind."

"All right guys," said Alex sounding less cheerful than before, "Let's get back to work. We'll work on some duelling. Pair up and try to disarm or what ever each other. No shields from wands, only from your cores."

They spent the rest of the day training. Harry found it difficult to focus. His gaze kept shifting to look at Alex. He couldn't understand what was happening, so he decided to ignore it for now. He had to focus on work. Ron moved passed him duelling Rebecca, his red hair flying around as he moved, reminding him of Ginny.

Ginny. He was beyond worried about her. Things had started well after the war with Voldemort. They had spent a few weeks helping with the clean up at Hogwarts, before returning to the Burrow for some rest before school started again. It was when they arrived at the Burrow things got bad. He could remember it like it had only just happened. Ginny's grief at loosing her brother, at loosing her friends, had slowly turned to anger at everyone around her, especially Harry.

But the anger hadn't lasted long. Soon she started to retreat into herself. She started to spend a lot of time by herself, refusing the company and support of him, Ron and Hermione. By the time they returned to school Ginny had began to cope by drinking. He began to notice a confused and accusing look on her face every time she looked at him and, after a while, she stopped looking at him at all. At first he thought she blamed him for the death of Fred, which he would understand, but the truth was much worse.

"Harry? Potter! Are you even paying attention?" said John snapping him back to reality. "If you don't come at me properly, how can I get good at this?" he added nodding to his Crystal Core.

"Sorry," Harry said, mentally shaking himself. He realised he must have not been trying very hard with reminiscing about Ginny. He decided there and then he would leave his personal life at home. This was serious and he wanted to give it his all.

"It's fine, sure you're ok?" asked John looking mildly concerned.

"I'm fine. Let's keep going."

From then until he finished work he threw himself into the practising. He worked tirelessly at producing shields from his Crystal Core and duelled with everything he had so John could have a good practice himself. By five o'clock, all four of them had perfected the act of casting the shields.

"You've all done well today," said Alex happily. "Take this session as your first lesson of everything, except work placement of course. It will be more focused from now though: Monday we'll work on new spells and new ways to use the spells you already know; Tuesday's Hermione will be with us until midday, explaining new Ar-Tech. We'll use the second half of the day to practice using them. Wednesday will be duelling techniques and practice; Thursday's you'll split up between me and my partner and do a bit of hands on, learning the paper work side and basic field work. And Friday, is a free practice day."

She waved her wand and the door to leave appeared. "Drinks then?" she asked. Once they had all nodded she added to Harry, "If you change your mind, Patronus me and I'll let you know where we are."

By the time he had walked to the apparation point, Harry had his plan for Ginny worked out. He had gone over the many conversions he had had with Hermione about what girls enjoy and settled on a nice dinner, some flowers, a bottle of wine and a few candles. By six o'clock, he was ready. He knew Ron and Hermione wouldn't be home for a while, so he had spent a little time making the kitchen look nice. Dinner was waiting in the oven keeping warm ready to be summoned when Ginny got home. Harry took a seat, poured himself some wine and, taking a small sip, started his wait for Ginny.

But she didn't come. Seven o'clock passed; followed by eight. Harry's mind had wandered from good thoughts of trying again to get through to Ginny, to the negative thoughts of the way she had treated him and those around her. One particular night came to the forefront of Harry's mind:

_It was the Halloween, the third straight week in a row that Ginny had not said a word to him; so he decided to confront her. He had noticed she had been sneaking in to the common room very late at night so, on Halloween night, he sat up to wait for her. _

_At half passed one in the morning, she stumbled through the portrait hole, clearly intoxicated, and stopped dead when she saw him standing there waiting._

_"Ginny," he started._

_"Leave it, I don't want to talk to you," she said starting for the girls dormitories._

_"No. Not this time. We need to talk about this."  
_

_"Talk about what?"  
_

_"Us!" said Harry struggling to keep calm. "We haven't spoken in weeks. We know you've been drinking. No one knows where you've been going all the time. You stumble in, drunk out of your mind every night. We're all worried, Ginny."  
_

_"Well, don't be," she said scornfully. "I'm fine, just having fun."  
_

_"You're not," said Harry bluntly. "You're grieving, and badly."_

_"And you would know would you?" she said, her voice rising. "Harry I'm-Going-To-Bury-My-Grief Potter is giving me talk about grieving?"  
_

_"That's not fair, Ginny," he started, but Ginny's voice drowned his out._

_"Not fair?!' she screamed, inappropriately reminding him of Mrs. Weasley's tempers. "I lost my brother. Tonks, Remus. Where were you when I was grieving? Where were you when we were getting tortured in your name for a whole year? It's your fault they're gone! And you couldn't even shed a single tear for them. Do not try and tell me I am grieving in the wrong way!"  
_

_"My fault?" said Harry his own temper rising. These were the thoughts he had always fought with, but no one had ever said it to him before. "How is it my fault? You're being selfish about everything. Did you stop to think how your mum feels about how you're acting? Or Ron?"  
_

_"Don't act like you care, Harry," she said. "No one believes you. I look at you, and I all I can think about is Fred's body lying on the floor. Tonks and Remus lying next to him. I look at any of you, and it reminds me of what I lost because you ran off and took too long to come back."  
_

_Harry really lost his temper: "Too long to come back? What do you think we were doing? Holidaying at the beach?"  
_

_"No one knows what you were doing," said Ginny. "Since you won't tell anyone. Why did you wait so long to fight him? Why did they all have to die before you did something about it? Why did you let us believe you were dead?"  
_

_"I did what I had to do," said Harry. "We won't tell anyone what we were doing, because the information is too dangerous."  
_

_"Whatever, Harry," said Ginny walking towards him. "I have a head ache. I'm going to bed. Move."  
_

_Harry stepped to the side. As she started towards the dormitories he said, "I won't give up on you."  
_

_She stopped for a brief moment. "Please, Harry. I know it's not your fault. But I just can't look at you. Every time I do I see them. Please understand. When you can accept what happened, maybe we can grieve together. But Harry, you left, for nearly a year, and I don't know if I still love you. You refused to feel any pain, so I'm dealing with it alone." Harry heard her sniff lightly before she ran up the stairs to bed._

More of these arguments had followed. Not just with Harry, but with Ron and Hermione as well. Ginny's grades slowly started to slip as she started to stay out later and later. In desperation they had gone around the teachers asking for help. To Harry's great surprise, Ginny's rescue came in the shape of Professor Slughorn.

One evening he approached her at the table during dinner. Harry over heard him tell her that he had told his friend Gwenog Jones about her exceptional Quidditch skills, and she was coming to Hogwarts to watch her at the next game, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. From there on Harry had noticed a change in her, if only a small one. With something to focus on she seemed to become a little less touchy to everyone, started to drink less, and Harry even managed a few small conversations with her. Eventually he approached Hermione for some ideas on how he could try and rebuild the connection between the two of them, and she had started to give him lessons on romance.

But to Harry's disappointed it had not lasted. Once they had finished school, Ginny had gotten a place on the reserve squad of the Harpies, and began using her spare time for drinking again. As much as she didn't argue with them as much any more, they rarely saw her smile. She was quiet and reserved and tended to avoid Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry was usually awake until she got home at night, which tended not to be before two in the morning.

And now he was here again; making huge amounts of effort for someone who seemingly didn't care. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up. As the clock got to nine, he gave up. Waving his wand at the table he had carefully set up, the dishes and cutlery started to put itself away. He pointed his wand to the window, focusing on the person he wanted to talk to, and his message, he cried "_Expecto Patronum_" sending his stag Patronus flying out the window.

After a quick shower, Harry was dressed and ready to go out to meet his work friends. He walked to the kitchen to pour himself a Firewhisky while he waited for the reply from Alex. Soon after a shining white raven flew into the apartment and spoke with Alex's voice.

"We're in Diagon Alley. A pub called The Broken Wand. See you soon."

Harry smiled to himself. He liked that pub. Downing the rest of his whiskey, Harry grabbed his jacket and walked to the apparation point at the back of the apartment. Turning on the spot he left for, hopefully, a night without thoughts of Ginny.

_**Really hope you enjoyed. Ch. 4 is nearly ready, hopefully be up in a couple of weeks. Very soon I'll be doing weekly updates.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Hi everyone! Here's chapter 4, the last "filler" chapter, after this one the plot will really start to move along. Hope you enjoy what my interpretation of what the Auror's are all about =) Please review if you have a few minutes!**_

**OOO**

Chapter 4 - Exams Again

"Help us!"

"Where? I can't see you! Where are you?!"

"Help!"

Panic was starting to take over Harry. He was stood in the corridors at Hogwarts, spinning around desperately trying to locate the source of the voice that was shouting. Every time he turned the voice came from a different direction. Choosing a corridor at random he started to jog, wand at the ready, hoping he would find whoever was in trouble.

As he jogged he began to notice something wasn't quite right. The walls were darker than he knew, and there were no portraits on the walls. There was a smell in the air that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Something evil was here, he knew it. Worrying even more, he sped up.

"You cannot save them."

Harry stopped dead. He felt a coldness descend up on him; born of a fear so great he couldn't start moving again. No, he thought to himself, it can't be you.

"Oh, but it can."

Harry suddenly remembered how to use his legs. He began to sprint away from the voice, crashing through the first door he came to. Emerging into the Great Hall, his breath caught as his eyes met with the man at the other side of the room.

Lord Voldemort waved his wand at Harry, sending him flying backwards and slamming into the wall above the teacher's chairs. Try as he might, he couldn't break the spell holding him in place.

"You're dead!" he screamed, continuing his struggle, "I watched you die! This isn't real!"

"Real, Harry Potter, is a matter of perspective. My body may be gone. My soul may be destroyed. But you keep me alive here."

Suddenly his bonds broke. He dropped to the floor with a crash but sprang back to his feet, firing a curse at where Voldemort was stood; only he had vanished. Catching his breath and glancing around warily, he slowly started to creep towards the large double doors, his senses in over drive.

All of a sudden a large group of people burst through the doors. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, Remus, Tonks and Sirius came flying into the room duelling two Death Eaters each. Harry raised his wand and tried help, but all his spells disappeared before they made contact. He watched in horror as a killing curse struck Fred in the chest; as Remus dived in front of Tonks, getting hit himself; as Sirius laughed before getting hit from three directions. One by one his friends fell until only Ron, Hermione and Ginny stood back to back against a dozen Death Eaters.

"Stop! Leave them alone!" Harry screamed.

A sinister laugh made him turn. Voldemort had returned. He was sat in Dumbledore's chair, casually aiming his wand at Harry.

"You can never save them, Harry, no matter how hard you fight."

After a blinding flash of green light Harry jolted awake, sitting bolt upright. He was drenched in sweat, his covers wrapped around him like a straight jacket. Vivid images of his nightmare raced through his head as he tried to regain control of his breathing. Eventually, he calmed enough to realise someone was sat with him, rubbing his back and whispering soothing words to him. For a heart stopping second he thought it was Ginny, but then he remembered she didn't live there anymore, and deduced it was Hermione.

"I'm sorry I woke you," he said, embarrassed.

"Don't be silly, here," said Hermione, handing him a glass of water. "Are you ok? That's every night for a week. I thought we got passed these?"

"We did, for a while. I don't know why they've started again."

"Perhaps you should see someone."

"It's not that bad yet. I just have a lot on my mind," said Harry. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and untangled himself from the covers. Hermione moved so she was sat next to him. "Where's Ron? Did I wake him too?" he asked.

"No, you didn't. He's not here. Mrs. Weasley had an emergency late last night, so he went to help. He said not to wait up."

Harry grimaced. He had long since learnt what an emergency at Mrs. Weasley's meant. Since the night she had stood Harry up, Ginny had been living back at the Burrow. Harry's night out had ended rather quickly. He had left out the back of the Leaky Cauldron to enter Diagon Alley, only to find Ginny passed out on the floor, her head resting against the wall. After a long struggle he had managed to get her back to the Burrow, where a worried Mrs. Weasley had taken over and told Harry to go get some sleep.

A month had passed since then, and he had spent every night going to sleep by himself. Ron had told him Ginny was living with her mum and, as Harry hadn't heard anything from her, he'd assumed she didn't want anything to do with him. The few words they had exchanged had been pleasant enough, but Ginny clearly didn't want to talk.

It wasn't until a week ago he had started having nightmares. They were the same in general, only the details varying. He had put them down to stress and pushed it to the back of his mind. He was starting to realise now it was unfair on Hermione to comfort him every morning.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Half six."

"Might as well get up then," he said stretching. "Do you want some breakfast or you going back to bed?"

"I'll get up too. Breakfast sounds good," said Hermione standing. "I'll just shower quickly and I'll be down."

"All right."

Once Hermione had left the room Harry got up and walked to his bathroom. Taking a look in the mirror he groaned. The bags under his eyes were getting worse and his skin looked paler than it used to. Splashing some water on his face he tried to wake himself up. He needed to be alert; today was an important day. In a few hours time he would be taking his first Auror exam. If the team passed, they'd be cleared for official field work; under supervision, of course.

With everything that was happening in his personal life, Harry had buried himself in his training at work. He was excelling at using his Crystal Core, he'd managed to disarm Alex once during a duel and was the first to master their latest piece of Ar-Tech; a magical device that looked like the arm off of a pair of glasses. Worn behind the ear; when channelled with magic a visor appears around the users eyes, giving detailed information about targets, revealing hidden or disguised people and allowing the user to make use of a spell Hermione invented, which places a hidden mark on a person or object, which is only visible through the Ar-Tech. The Auror's had named them See-ers.

His bond with his team mates was getting stronger, too. Even John, with his arrogant attitude, was first to help if one of them was struggling. Alex beamed with pride as they grew to work as a unit. Ron had been given the role of squad leader after several demonstrations of good strategy and, as much as Harry wasn't surprised, it seemed to shock Ron how well he slotted into leadership.

The four team mates, along with Alex and Hermione, had started to spend a lot of time together outside of work as well. John had been captain of the chess club at Hogwarts, much to everyone's surprise, and enjoyed discussing strategy with Ron. Rebecca and Hermione had found a lot in common; the first time they had invited Rebecca, John and Alex to the apartment, Rebecca had nearly lost her head at Hermione's prized collection of first addition magical history books. Which left Harry and Alex.

Harry wasn't entirely sure what was happening with Alex. He knew he enjoyed her company, he spent enough time around her. Harry had gotten into the habit of working long hours at the Ministry, to try and drown out everything else that was happening, and, to his slight surprise, Alex was usually there as late as he was. They both were usually found in the training rooms or hanging around the Enchantment devision in the Department of Mysteries right up to the time the overnight locking wards came into place. Hermione had told him anyone still there after that time was stuck there until early the next morning, an idea she had taken from Muggle banks. He laughed a lot around Alex, the only real laughing he was doing, and being around her had the added bonus of increasing his skill at duelling, among other things.

Between work, extra training and his thoughts of Alex and Ginny, time was moving by at an alarming rate. He wasn't sure he was ready for this exam; the thought of it sent a nasty feeling through his gut. But, at least Ron would be leading them, and he trusted Ron with his life. Giving himself a mental shake, he finished washing, got dressed, and went to join Hermione for breakfast.

**OOO**

"Welcome, Auror's, to your first exam!"

Later that day found Harry, Ron, Rebecca and John stood in a line in front of Henry Friar. They were waiting near the Department of Mysteries training rooms, all slightly nervous of what was to come. Rebecca seemed to be fairing the worst, she looked petrified. Ron gave Harry a worried glance. Not knowing what to do, he just shrugged. She relaxed a little when John put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. At least one of us knows what we're doing, Harry thought to himself.

Alex had met them at the start of the day, but left shortly after to watch from a special viewing room for the exams. They had met Henry outside of a training room door, looking extremely serious. Alex had told them a lot about Henry. Apparently he rarely laughed; he believed strictness led to survival. The fact he had single headedly taken on eight Death Eaters during the war against Voldemort, Harry thought he may be on to something. His serious tone wasn't helping with anyone's nerves. Even John seemed a little on edge.

"You'll be briefed inside," said Henry. "If you could place a finger on the pads."

Feeling apprehensive, Harry and the others obeyed the order. Henry placed his palm on the large pad and closed his eyes. After five minutes Henry still hadn't moved. Harry glanced around his team but they all just shrugged. Eventually, Henry opened his eyes.

"In an emergency," he said, "you can exit as normal. When all mission parameters have been met, the exit will appear. If you feel you've met all the requirements to finish the mission, then exit as normal. Understood? In you go then. Good luck."

Henry held the door as they trooped inside one by one. Waiting inside was ... Henry.

"Good morning, Auror's."

"What the bloody hell?" whispered Ron.

"This is a touch weird," said Rebecca.

"It must be for you to say it's weird," said John sniggering.

"Shut up. I wonder if he responds to us. Harry, ask it something."

"Err... Are you Henry Friar?"

The fake Henry smiled. "Yes, Harry Potter, I am. And to answer your question, Miss Riley, I do respond."

"Wicked," said Ron.

"Enough joking," said fake Henry. He motioned to square table in the centre of the small room they were in. "Gather round. Now, your mission is simple in nature. A number of dark wizards have broken into a manor house in the Welsh country side, taking the family and staff hostage. We are unsure of their intentions, so we must assume the worse. You must enter and detain the fugitives and secure the hostages. Stealth is of utmost importance to ensure the safety of the hostages."

"Is err, real Henry watching?" asked Ron, looking at the others to check they didn't think he was mad.

"Yes he is," replied fake Henry, "Mr. Weasley, is your team ready?"

Harry nodded to Ron along with the others. They all lifted their robes over their heads, revealing their newly issued Auror uniforms. All clad in black, the material was soft yet sturdy, with thick padding across the chest, arms, legs and back designed to try and reduce the force from enemy spells. The clothing made no noise when the wearer moved and was loaded with enough pockets to store all the Ar-Tech he wanted. After sliding his See-er behind his ear, he fired a bit of magic into it to check it worked. Taking a quick glance at Rebecca, he mentally asked the See-er for information on her. It read:

_Name: Rebecca Riley_

_Age: 18_

_Skill: High, engage with caution._

_Notes: lightning reflexes, bordering on foresight._

Turning off his See-er he looked at Rebecca normally, wondering. She did seem to have abnormal reflexes, he thought to himself. He jumped when the fake Henry spoke again, reminding him where he was and what he was doing.

"When you are ready," said fake Henry, placing an old tooth brush on the table, "the Portkey will take you to the entry point. From there you're on your own."

Ron stepped forward, picked up the tooth brush and turned to the others. "Ready?" he asked.

They all nodded and, as one, they placed a finger onto the Portkey.

After the usual but horrible spinning, they landed on a large hill in the countryside. Turning his See-ers on, he magically zoomed in on the large manor house in the distance. All Harry could say was it looked old, he'd need Hermione for any more details.

"Eighteenth century, I'd say," said Rebecca.

"And why would you say that?" asked John.

"The architecture, the brick work, the style. Take your pick."

"All right, all right, whatever you say."

"Ok guys," said Ron, sounding a little nervous now the time had come to lead. Harry gave Ron a reassuring smile, and he brightened up a bit and continued. "You heard what we have to do. We find the hostages first, then we clear the rest of the house. Harry, Rebecca; take to the air and do some recon. Find out how many targets are around the house. John, with me, we'll walk closer and look for a way in."

"These rooms never cease to amaze me," whispered Rebecca as Ron and John crept slowly down the hill. Harry had to agree. For a moment he had forgotten this was still inside the Ministry. He'd had no idea that they could put people in these things.

"Come on," said Harry, "Disillusionment charms. You go left, I'll go right, compare counts when we meet up?"

"Sure."

They both pulled out their wands and summoned their Fliers from a pocket on the back of their suits. Silently enlarging the pads, Harry leapt on, Disillusioned himself and took to the skies.

The Fliers were a different sensation to brooms. They didn't make him feel as free, but they were maneuverable on a level brooms would never achieve. Harry let his magic flow freely through his body and soared smoothly around the grounds of the manor.

Harry hadn't always been so good with his Fliers, quite the opposite. He'd gotten his wish, he had had his fair share of being the source of laughter for the team. After a week of meditation practice and theory, Hermione had finally signed them off to use the Fliers. On his first try, his levitation spell had been a bit strong and, in his panic, he had forgotten how to control it after releasing it. The result was him shooting into the air. Unable to take control he'd be forced to jump from fifty feet up, casting a Cushioning Charm to break his fall. Safe to say, they had all found this hilarious. Luckily, after a few hours practice, he'd manage to get the hang of it; not that his team mates would ever let him forget.

The manor was set in a large ground. A long cobble stone path ran from the main gates to the front doors, with a circular section created around a large fountain. The main gates were guarded, as were the front doors. As Harry flew around, he spotted patrols of two wizards dotted about the place. The perimeter of the grounds was surrounded with tall hedging acting as a wall and, inside the hedging, everything was open, making him worry how they were going to get inside. Finishing his count, he looked up, trying to spot the shimmering in the air that would be Rebecca. When she spoke from behind him, he nearly fell off his Fliers.

"Think I've found something."

"Bloody hell, Rebecca," whispered Harry, borrowing a few of Ron's chosen swear words. He could see her through his See-ers, but she shimmered slightly due to the charm she had on herself. "You scared the life out of me."

"My bad," she said, grinning, "I think I saw a way in. There's a man hole back there, slightly off the grounds. There's two guards over it, I'm assuming that means we can enter."

"All right, let's go get the others."

"Already done. Look," said Rebecca, pointing behind Harry. He turned and zoomed in on where she pointed. His See-er's illuminated Ron and John crouched down in a bush near the man hole. The two guards had a small, shining white R and a black J hovering over their heads. A few moments later two thin jets of red light fired from the bush, hitting the two guards at exactly the same time. It was a technique Alex had taught them. The marks they had put on the guards could only be seen through the See-er's, letting the team mark and take down up to four people at once.

Harry and Rebecca flew downwards to join the other two, dismounting and putting away their Fliers. Ron emerged from the bush with John just as Harry dropped his Disillusion Charm. They converged near the man hole, John waving his wand and wrapping the two guards tightly in rope.

"How was the count?" asked Ron.

"Eight outside," said Harry. He glanced at Rebecca who nodded in agreement. "Two on the gates, two on the doors. There's a set of two patrols made up of two people each."

"That's not too bad," said Ron, "I think we go in, find and secure the hostages, take out who ever we see, and leave through the front doors."

"And what about the eight guards?" asked John.

"We leave two of us on the hostages; the other two can take the outdoor guards out from the air. Then we leave the grounds. Sound all right?"

Once they had all nodded, Harry aimed his wand at the man hole and tried a Levitation Charm, frowning when nothing happened. Next Rebecca tried an Unlocking Charm to no avail. Rolling his eyes John stepped forward, aimed and cried "_REDUCTO_" at the top of his lungs, blowing the man hole clean off.

"Idiot!" hissed Ron, "we'll be lucky if half the country didn't hear that."

"Don't call me an idiot, Weasley..."

"Quiet, and get down!" said Harry, as quietly as possible. He had spotted two of the guards walking to investigate. They had both pulled out wands from the inside of their black robes. Harry grabbed Rebecca's hand and jumped into the man hole, praying it wasn't a huge drop. John soon followed, then Ron, who was holding his wand and lowering the man hole cover over them.

Luckily, it was only a few feet before they splashed into ankle deep water. Harry held his breath as the small thumps of footsteps above them grew louder. The sound stopped, as if the people above were looking around, before starting again and fading to quiet.

"That was a bit close," whispered Rebecca.

"Too close," said Harry.

"You guys know this isn't real, don't you?" said John smirking.

Ron's ears went bright red. "It's real enough that if we fail here we lose our jobs!" said Ron angrily. "I'm not failing because of you!"

"We won't fail, calm down"

"Calm..." started Ron, but Harry, knowing the tell-tale signs of Ron getting very worked up, stepped in.

"Can we just get on with it?" asked Harry. So much for working as a team, he thought to himself.

"Agreed," said Rebecca.

"Ok, fall in behind me," said Ron, breathing in deeply before carrying on. "Harry at the back. Light your wand, but be ready to put it out again. _Lumos_"

Harry copied Ron, lighting his wand and joining the back of the group. They were in a thin stone corridor Harry assumed led to the house. It was pitch black, damp and cold. The eerie nature of the place gave Harry the creeps. Shaking himself, he reminded himself he was actually in the Ministry. Still, he thought to himself, definatley creepy. After a few moments, or an eternity, Harry wasn't sure, they saw a ladder in the distance. All of a sudden Rebecca stopped moving in front of him, causing Harry to walk into the back of her.

"Rebecca?" said Harry, putting his hand on her shoulder. She whipped her head round to look at him, her hair flying wildly, and Harry found he couldn't breathe. She was staring at him with blank, white eyes. Her hair had started to float slightly behind her, and, when she spoke, her voice sounded a little harsher than normal.

"There's two up the stairs, backs to the door. Through the next door, the house entrance hall, there's three sat at a table and two at the top of the stairs looking down. The hostages are through a door to the left, guarded by four hostiles."

The others stood there with shocked faces as Rebecca's eyes rolled forward and returned to their normal colour. Rebecca looked shyly around, shrinking into herself a little.

"Err, well, that wasn't weird," said John.

"Are you ok, Rebecca?" asked Harry, frowning at John. "What happened?"

"Can I explain later?" replied Rebecca. "Just trust me."

"Are you a seer?" asked John. Harry thought he sounded rather rude.

"Please, drop it."

"Come on..."

"Enough!" said Ron forcefully. Harry was proud of how Ron was adapting to leading. He was good, really good. Just, like normally, he was working on his confidence. "We take Rebecca's word for it. We clear one room at a time. Ok?"

"Yes, sir!" said John, fake saluting. "Honestly, sorry Rebecca," he said sincerely. He smiled after she nodded to him.

"Right, two through here, backs to us?" asked Ron.

"They were when I saw them," said Rebecca.

"All right. Harry, with me."

Harry and Ron crept slowly up the stairs. They both summoned a shield from their Crystal Cores before pointing there wands at the door. Harry wordlessly cast a silencing charm all around the door in case of a squeak, and Ron opened it to peek through. True enough, two guards awaited them with their backs to them. Harry and Ron silently turned on their See-er's, marked their targets and, on Ron's count, fired stunners into the room. Before they hit the floor they both cast a levitation charm on the bodies, stopping the thump and moving the bodies out of sight. All these moves were courtesy of Alex, she'd trained them well.

Ron waved the others through, and the four of them crept to the next door. Harry was feeling nervous now they were inside, something didn't feel quite right. He just hoped Rebecca was right, how she knew could come later.

"Wait," said Rebecca. She closed her eyes, scrunching them together. When she opened them they were white again. Now they were in a light room, instead of a dark underground corridor, it didn't look as eerie. After a few seconds she returned to normal. "Still three at the table, the two upstairs are patrolling in a square on the landing. They can see over easily."

"Right," said Ron, "err... right... hmm..."

"In your own time," said John.

"You're getting on my nerves, Cleric," said Rebecca, angrily.

"Ohh, last name terms now, Riley?"

"Please," begged Harry, "can we just focus. We've been fine in training!" Ron was clearly folding under this pressure. Harry wanted nothing more than to help. "Duel each other senseless when we get out, just, let's do well now."

"Ok, ok, sorry."

"Me too."

"What do we do, Ron?"

"I think, we're about to alert them to our presence," said Ron. "Rebecca, can you take us to the hostages?"

"Yes."

"Good, we have to be fast," said Ron. "Send a Flashing Charm in, shield your eyes with the See-er's and take them down."

They all nodded and got into position around the closed door. Ron cast a spell causing a ball of light to appear at the end of his wand, brighter than _Lumos_, and nodded to John, who waved his wand making the door fly open.

Harry channelled into his See-er's to shield his eyes just as Ron flung the ball of light into the room, jabbed his wand at it causing a blinding light to flash in the centre of the room. Taking his cue Harry dived through the door, choosing a target and dropping him with a stunner. Glancing round he saw the other guards were unconscious, the only issue is they didn't go down quietly.

"Go, go!" cried Ron.

Harry fell in line behind Rebecca as she shot off up the stairs and along the landing, crashing through a door on the left. Ron went in after, followed by John. As Harry came to go through a guard burst through the door at the end of the landing, firing a jet of red light towards him. Harry summoned a shield from his Crystal Core before side stepping after his friends.

"Fuck," said Ron, slamming the door behind Harry and locking it with a wave of his wand. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"At least we found the hostages," said Rebecca, gesturing to a group of a dozen people huddled at the back of the room. Harry saw his friends hadn't wasted time dealing with the guards in the room, their bodies piled in the corner.

"Found is a strong word," said John. "You actually told us they were here."

"How do we get out, though?" asked Harry, "we can't go back through that door, they'd decimate us."

"Bloody hell, wait here," said John. He used his wand to blow out the widow behind him, summoned his Flier's from his rear pocket and dived out of the window.

"For fucks sake..." said Ron through his teeth. "Now what? I'm going to .."

Just then something banged into the door, cutting Ron off. The three Auror's summoned shields, positioned themselves around the hostages and dropped into a defensive stance. It was only then Harry really paid any attention to the hostages. A man and a woman were crouched covering three small children, along with what Harry assumed were the staff of the house. They all looked terrified.

This place is a little too real, he thought to himself.

After a few breath taking moments, he heard a muffled smash of glass shattering from outside the door. After a couple of bangs, a crash, a lot of swearing and a thump, John's voice sounded from the other side.

"Open up, it's clear."

"I swear, if you ever..." started Ron angrily, opening the door to reveal John's smug face looking at him. But Ron didn't finish his sentence due to a burst of red light hitting John in the back of the head, catapulting him back into the room.

"This isn't going well, is it?" said Rebecca, trying to smile. She ran to the door, using the wall as cover and firing spells into the entrance hall. Ron crouched down near Ron trying to revive him, leaving Harry to figure out what to do next.

Harry took a deep breath, trying to remember his training. Looking around the room he tried to figure out the best way out. The window, the hostages could jump and they could cast a Cushioning Charm? No, too slow, they could be ambushed. That left the door...

"Ron..."

"Not now, Harry, he won't wake up."

"Ron! We'll have to carry him, we can't stay in this room forever!"

Rebecca was clearly struggling, finding less opportunities to fire spells out the door. Ron sighed and stood up, turning to the hostages. He impressed Harry with the confidence in his voice.

"Right, you're going to follow behind Rebecca, she'll follow when we tell her. Only move when she says move, understood?"

All the hostages nodded and stood shakily. One of the children, a little girl, started to cry.

Far too real, Harry concluded to himself.

Harry's adrenaline was really pumping now. Ron took Rebecca's position at the door so she could prepare to carry John. She pointed her wand at him, casting a spell to make him light as a feather, while Harry got ready to duel.

"We're going over the banister to the lower level," shouted Ron over the noise. "Stay covered in here, Rebecca. We'll fire green sparks in the air when it's clear. Ready, Harry?"

Harry nodded, summoning a fresh shield on his left arm. He'd done this with Ron before in training, they worked well together with this sort of thing. Harry waited for Ron to nod, then sprinted for the door. He put a leg onto the banister and flung himself off, Ron following behind him. A quick charm broke his fall and he fell into a stance with his back to Ron.

His See-er's made this easier, illuminating enemies in bright red making them less tricky to spot. He counted ten on his side, so he assumed Ron had the same. Spells flew back and forth, Harry found his rhythm, slowly sending offensive spells at his targets. Eventually, the dust settled and the room went quiet. A few curses had hit him, his face stung where a Slicing Hex had caught him and he limped slightly where a spell had slammed into his leg. Ron was in a similar state, Harry noticed when he turned around.

"That could have been worse," said Ron, panting.

"Yeah, shall we get the hostages?"

"Ok," said Ron aiming his wand above his head and firing sparks into the air. A few moments later Rebecca appeared leading the hostages around the landing and down the stairs, carrying a weightless John on her back. "There can't be many more left," he said. "Let's go."

The group started to move towards the doors, Harry secretly hoping Ron was right. Surprisingly, when they quietly opened the doors, the grounds were deserted. Making the most of it they moved quickly across the grounds, until an ear piercing screech sounded from back inside.

"What... who are we missing?" barked Ron at the hostages. They all looked too scared to talk. Eventually the mother looked around and screamed herself.

"My little girl!" she cried, running to Ron. "She's still inside! Do something."

"I..."

"Ron, focus!" said Harry, but he seemed too stunned to think. Shaking his friend by the shoulders, he said, "Stay with the hostages! I'll get the girl!"

Harry summoned his Flier's and shot off around the side of the manor, scanning for the window John smashed when he flew out. It was only now he noticed what was keeping his head so clear. Fawkes was singing inside him again, only he filled Harry with hope and focus, forcing him to concentrate on his goal. He felt elated, like nothing could stop him as long as the dead phoenix kept singing.

Spotting the window, Harry flew towards it as fast as he could. He had a split second to notice a guard inside, looking out of the door, before Harry dived off his Fliers and landed inside the window. He dropped the guard by the door before putting his back to a wall. Quickly taking in the number of enemies, Harry started volleying spells back and forth with the two in the room. He managed to drop one of them with a stunner, but the other reached behind the bed, grabbing the little girl and using her as a shield.

Harry was long out of stamina, running solely on the adrenaline Fawkes was pumping through his body. He locked eyes with the wizard holding the hostage. The man was wearing black robes, with a hood covering most of his face. He needed to stun him, or disarm him, but the danger of hurting the hostage was putting him off.

After a few long seconds he noticed a loose brick lying on the ground behind his enemy. Trying not to move his wand, Harry silently raised the brick to the man's head height, before dropping it again with a dull thump. The noise made the man turn his head slightly, giving Harry the opening he needed to fire a stunner at him. The wizard fell to the floor, releasing his hold on the girl.

"Are you all right?" asked Harry, running forward. The girl gave him a small nod before running forward and hugging him tightly. Harry wasn't quite sure what to do. He tried to think how Hermione would handle this, so he said, "Come on, it's ok, let's get you out of here."

Harry picked the girl up in his arms, summoned his Flier's and flew back out the window, swooping around the building to land near his friends. He gently let the girl down, allowing her to run to her mother's arms.

Jogging over to Ron and Rebecca, John still unconscious on the floor, he said, "So we're done now right? We got the hostages out. I didn't see any more people inside."

"I guess so," said Rebecca, "your call, Ron."

"All right."

Ron waved his wand, summoning the door to leave. As the door appeared in front of them, the hostages disappeared leaving them alone in the grounds. John stirred on the ground, groggily opening his eyes before launching to his feet and waving his wand wildly. Taking a good look around, John calmed enough to talk.

"What happened?" asked John.

"You got knocked out," said Rebecca, giggling, apparently finding the whole thing funny now they were out of danger.

"Great. Are we done now then?"

"Yeah," said Harry, "we were just leaving."

"How long was I out?"

"Long enough to miss Harry and Ron duel about twenty people, rescue the hostages, go back in for one we missed and decide we were done," said Rebecca. "Thanks for your help."

"It wasn't quite twenty..." said Ron looking at the floor.

"Ready to get grilled for being reckless?" asked Rebecca nudging John in the ribs. Harry joined in laughing with the others as John went bright red.

"Time to see how we did then," said Harry opening the door.

**OOO**

"Cheer up, you weren't that bad!"

"I bloody well was."

Later that evening Harry was sat around a dining table with Ron, Hermione and Alex in a restaurant on Diagon Alley. They'd invited John and Rebecca too, but they had both declined, claiming to need some sleep. Harry and Ron had just finished retelling the story of their exam to Hermione, along with the telling off they'd all received when they got out.

"He's just strict, Ron," said Alex kindly, "I wouldn't worry. You passed!"

"I suppose," said Ron, sulking. "We'd have been fine if John wasn't so full of himself." His eyes widened and he seemed to cheer up when their food arrived.

"Did anybody ask Rebecca what the whole seeing into the future thing was?" asked Harry, thanking the waitress for his food.

"Nah," said Ron, "Henry Friar screaming at me kind of drove any other thoughts out my head."

"What do you mean, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Her eyes went all white, was kind of creepy. Then she described the enemy numbers in the house right up to the hostages."

Hermione nodded, seemingly lost in thought. Harry noticed Alex deliberately cutting into her steak. "You know something," he stated.

"I might," replied Alex, evasively, "I can't tell you, even if I did know something."

"Why not?" asked Ron, earning him a frown from Hermione.

"It's not my business to. She'll tell you when she's ready."

Ron looked at Harry, shrugged and delved back into his dinner. The rest of the meal passed in relative silence, each person seemed lost in their own thoughts. Harry put Rebecca to the back of his mind for now, and, once again, found his thoughts drifting to the blonde sat next to him.

When they'd arrived, he'd sat next to her without conscious thought, it just felt right. He'd told Hermione about what was going on in his head. She'd had lots of long talks with him at night when Ron was helping with Ginny, advising him to try not to worry at the moment, and to relax and enjoy having a new friend in his life. Recently, though, her advice had changed. She had told him he obviously couldn't be expected to wait forever for Ginny; that, as much as it wasn't his fault, she may not be able to be more than friends to him. This had confused Harry even more.

To his greatest relief, though, the entire Weasley family still considered him one of their own. He still went for dinner at the Burrow once a week, still played the odd game of Quidditch with Ron and his brothers. It lifted his heart every time he thought of it, especially the night Bill had announced Fleur was pregnant, approached Harry and asked if he would be Godfather, along with Ron.

He frequently found his thoughts wondering to Alex, though. He wasn't even sure why, he barely knew anything about her. He just knew how he felt when he saw her; the swooping sensation he felt when she spoke to him. He just didn't know, not yet; he'd decided to just make the most of something nice that was happening to him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" said Alex, poking him in the ribs and making him jump. "You look like you're in another world."

"I'm just tired," he replied truthfully, "today was tough."

"Yeah, I bet."

Deciding he'd had enough, he put his knife and fork down on his plate. Everyone else had already finished eating, so they all stood and picked up their jackets from the back of their chairs.

"Do you want to come for a glass of wine, Alex?" Hermione asked.

Alex gave Harry a quick glance, before replying, "Sure, if you'll have me?"

"Don't be silly. You're always welcome."

Harry brightened up knowing she wasn't leaving. They all turned to leave, Harry walking next to Alex towards the door. It took a moment to notice Ron wasn't following them. Harry stopped and turned around, causing Hermione to nearly walk into him. Alex glanced back too, freezing when she saw where Ron was, and what he was doing.

"Harry, what..." started Hermione, but Harry just nodded behind her, making her turn around herself. What she saw made her clap a hand over her mouth.

Ron was next to the dining table, down on one knee and holding a small, black jewellery box. It was only due to how long Harry had known him that he could tell Ron was ready to bolt for the door. But he didn't; his back was straight and his shoulders were squared.

Hermione started to walk very slowly towards Ron. Harry's stomach did a back flip when he felt a small hand enter his own, fingers entwining with his. When Alex's skin touched his jolts of electricity fired through him, he felt invincible. They shared a shy smile before turning to watch the proposal playing out in front of them.

When Hermione was within touching distance of Ron, he tried to speak.

"Hermione I..." he started, cleared his throat, and tried again. "Hermione Granger... I love... Will... Will you be my wife?"

An extremely long few seconds passed by, during which Harry heard Hermione sniffle and Alex's grip on his hand tightened, then Hermione said, "Get up, you prat. Of course I'll marry you."

The entire restaurant burst into cheers. Harry and Alex ran forwards as Ron got up and hugged Hermione tightly. When Harry reached them he joined the hug, along with Alex, both of them shouting their congratulations above the noise. The four of them left the restaurant arm in arm, laughing madly, heading back to the apartment to celebrate properly.

**OOO**

"Make sure you're prepared for this."

"He'll be pissed if you fuck it up."

"I won't fuck it up. You uphold your end, I'll uphold mine. You lure them here; I promise you they won't leave."

"We don't care about the others. We just want Potter and the red head."

"And I get my researchers, at last? Neumann tells me he can make more powerful equipment with more."

"Yes, you'll get your fucking researchers. Watch your tone, Dyer. Remember who the wizards are here."

_**A/N: So, what did you think?! Out of curiosity, are you hoping Harry and Ginny will mend their relationship, or that Harry and Alex will develop theirs into something more? **_

_**Chapter 5 I hope to have uploaded at the latest two weeks today.**_

_**Keade**_


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